Happy Birthday Beach Baby

I can’t believe my baby girl is 2 years old today! I also can’t remember what life was like before she was born. She fills every day with love and light and laughter (and the occasional banshee shriek). Ever since she was an infant she has been my little cuddle bug, and I am so so so happy that she still loves to snuggle with her mommy. Those are some of my happiest moments where I feel like my heart is about to burst with love and I feel so completely at peace. She is so full of love and is always giving hugs to me, her daddy and brother, friends in our building, dogs (“woof-woofs”) everywhere. Whenever we are walking down the street she says HI!!! to everyone and then BYE-BYE!!! as we walk away. She screams it at them hahaha. It makes people crack up. She loves food in general (thank God I have 1 good eater!) but nothing more than ice cream. This morning when she woke up and I sang her Happy Birthday she looked up at me and smiled and said “Ice Cream mama! Ice Cream!” I told her she could have some later but not for breakfast. 🙂 She loves to play a game where I say “What sound does a [pick an animal] make?” and then she makes the sound. The funniest one is the chicken, where she goes “bok bok buk-OCK!” and is so dramatic in her delivery – I’m laughing just imagining her saying it. 🙂 She has become pretty opinionated about her clothes these days – the only outfits she wants to wear are her ice cream pajamas (no surprise) or this pink/rainbow tutu thing. When she doesn’t get to wear either of those there are very dramatic tears and cries of “No mama! Not this. NOT THIS!!!! *cue wailing*” as I put on her clothes. It’s the end of the world. Then 2 minutes later she is her usual happy silly self again and it’s like it never happened. She hates being left out of anything. Including me going to work in the morning – most days when she sees me put on my shoes she runs to the door and grabs a pair of her shoes and tries to put them on herself so she can come with me. It breaks my heart every single time that I can’t take her with me (but sometimes she is appeased by getting to push the elevator buttons for me as a consolation.) She also is always trying to do whatever her big brother is doing – running, playing, riding her scooter, etc. It is so cute to see her at the playground running after him and his friends wanting to play with the big boys (and hanging in there!). She has such an indomitable spirit and I love seeing the strong and independent little girl she has become. Her favorite movie right now (and really the first movie she has ever been obsessed with) is Boss Baby, and I don’t think that’s an accident. She is a total #girlboss. She loves to help – in the morning she helps me make my coffee in our nespresso machine – puts in the pod, pushes the button, we count to 10, and she pushes it again to make it stop (yeah, we have a really really old nespresso machine haha). She is so proud of herself when she does it. She is also good at cleaning up (although is still better at making a mess). She loves bubble baths and asks for them basically as soon as she gets up until the end of the day when she actually gets to take one. She is so loving – whether it’s caring for her baby dolls and pretending to be their mommy – giving them pretend bottles, rocking them to sleep and putting them down for naps – or getting a boogie wipe and coming to wipe my nose the way I do for her and her brother, or anytime I have a bruise or cut saying “mama boo-boo?” and giving it a kiss. The whole world is exciting to her – stairs (the best!), birds (OMG birdie fly!), boats, cars, airplanes, bikes, tractors, babies, animals of all kinds, anything that lights up, anything that has wheels, anything that plays music, water, grass, balls, dolls. Seeing the world through her eyes has made me believe it is a more magical place too. And it is . . . because she is in it. I love you baby girl and am forever grateful I got so so lucky in being your mommy. 🙂

These are some pictures from a day we spent at the beach in Italy earlier this summer. She really wanted to be naked the whole time (SO EURO), and we let her be for a couple hours. Eventually, I got her in her little yellow polka dot bikini which, I’m sorry, is just the cutest thing ever. Initially she wanted to wear the bottoms as a hat, but eventually we got there. 🙂

SO silly. 🙂

Her eyelashes ♥

Her tummy is the cutest.

She loves hats. She will put one on to “hide” and then suddenly take it off to reveal herself. (We are expected to act surprised every time she does it).

I love this last picture – it perfectly captures her personality. So happy and ready to party! 🙂 I love you sweet baby girl!